Gender Neutered

Freshly re-elected United States Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a mother of five, grandmother of nine, and, in 2007, became the first woman ever elected to lead the House of Representatives.  Then-President George W. Bush acknowledged Pelosi’s historic achievement, opening his 2007 State of the Union address with a gentlemanly tip of his hat to the beaming “Madam Speaker.”  But under newly enacted House rules, “Madam Speaker” is out and “gavel pounding person” is in.  In the name of inclusivity, the Democratically-led Congress is excluding gendered terminology.  Pronouns like “he” and “she”; familial ...